I’ve been reading various blogs that have noted the Yahoo! Finance article series about living well when making various amounts (, $20K, and ). These bloggers also took turns answering the questions in the articles. I’ve enjoyed reading these posts, and I figured I would list my answers as well:

Do you avoid a lot of the expenses that many of your peers spend money on, such as technology and meals out?
My phone is an absolute dinosaur and my laptop was free through work, so it’s safe to say that I do pretty well when it comes to not spending much on technology. However, I know that it’s only a matter of time before my phone completely dies on me (hello, hitting the letter “A” when texting and having 13 As fly across the screen!), so I’m currently budgeting for an iPhone sometime soon. Meals out are always a struggle for me because my friends are true foodies with expensive tastes, but I have come a long way in being able to say ‘no, thank you’ without feeling pressured. I have a great balance right now with cooking at home for most dinners, and I always bring my breakfast and lunch to work instead of going out.

What’s your typical meal?
I consider myself lucky because I naturally favor healthy foods. My typical (and nearly daily) lunch is a big salad or some sort of black bean, tomato, lettuce, salsa, and veggie mix that I roll up in whole-wheat tortillas. I eat a ton of veggies, beans, and chicken, so my grocery bills aren’t too crazy. I also love to experiment with spices and odd flavor combinations, so I can pretty creatively come up with cheap meals.  So far, the oddest lunch to date was a bowl of cottage cheese mixed with black beans, tomato chunks, and dijon mustard–sounds gross but was amazing!

What about clothes? 
I used to spend freely (and blindly) on wardrobe updates, but I am definitely way better than I used to be! I don’t really shop that much anymore unless I truly need something, and I always hunt through the clearance section and use coupons whenever possible. I recently spent $105 on over $550 worth of clothes for some much-needed wardrobe enhancements. This will be the last time I shop for clothing for months aside from purchasing some black flats that I need for work. I also successfully complete periodic clothing spending bans when I’m feeling particularly spendy.
 
What about going on dates?
I’m pretty vocal (in a polite way) about my budget with my BF, so we’ve adapted to each other’s patterns and preferences in terms of dates. We balance going out with staying in so that helps to keep things in check. Our typical dates will be dining out, hiking or other outdoor activities with friends that are free, and sometimes concerts. All of this has to fit in my miscellaneous spending budget or it doesn’t happen unless he wants to pay (he makes more than I do so sometimes things just fit better in his budget).

Do you indulge in any luxuries? 
I absolutely indulge in travel. To me, it’s the most important way to enjoy your money when wanting to spend on experiences rather than material objects or food. I plan my trips and save for them before leaving, so I’ve been lucky to not trash my monthly budgets or savings in my quest to see the world. What I won’t spend my money on are things I deem frivolous such as manicures/pedicures (never have had one but I probably will for my wedding day), expensive lattes (I’ve never had coffee before), coloring my hair (not yet at least), etc. I get 2-3 haircuts each year at a salon I’ve been going to for over 5 years where the haircuts are still $35. I tip quite a bit because I absolutely love what they do with my hair and their service, but I still only spend $50 for haircut in Boston….not too shabby!

Do you have health insurance?
Yes and I would never go without it unless there were literally no options!

Do you have any savings for emergencies? 
Definitely–I finally have a fully funded e-Fund of $20K. While I’ve scaled back my savings contributions in order to payoff the first part of my mortgage and student loans ASAP, I’m still saving $500/month for long-term savings.

Do you anticipate or look forward to having a higher salary one day?
I would be lying if I said I wasn’t as I am virtually always looking to earn more money. One of the reasons why I manage multiple jobs is because I want to constantly be enhancing my skills as well as making sure I’m a well-rounded applicant for whatever job/industry I wish to work in.

What about retirement–do you plan on ever saving enough to retire?  
I definitely want to retire well because I hope to continue my travels. I contribute no less than $650/month to my retirement accounts, and I recently bumped up contributions to my 403b. As I mentioned in my post about money rules, I make sure these contributions are automatic and a first priority when creating my monthly budget.